﻿the classroom﻿

​​​module 1

From Power to Empowerment

Introduction​​Welcome to this very first module on this course about Empowerment! Here, we will equip you with the knowledge required to understand the preliminary distinction between “Empowerment” and the more common term “Power”. In order to talk about empowerment, we need to make sure that we understand the term Power especially as it relates to the classroom. Although related, these two words bear an important difference when one thinks of the way a given society is organized.

Aims and Objectives​​By the time you finish this module, you will be able to: •Understand what we define by the notion of “Power” •Understand the different forms it takes (visible, hidden & invisible)•Link Power to the concept of Empowerment​

Defining Power

Before we can talk about empowerment, we need to familiarize with the concept of power. Power is the degree of control someone has over different sorts of resources. These could be material, human, intellectual, or financial. Power is unequally distributed, some individuals and groups having greater control than others.Power can also be viewed as a force which individuals can use to push forward their interests. It should be noted that this hasn’t to be associated with a negative or selfish behavior. Power does not have to impact negatively on others; in other words, power is not inherently a zero-sum game, where one person’s gain is equivalent to another’s equivalent disadvantage.

Now that we have listed the different sorts of power resources in section I, it is possible to elaborate a new distinction between different forms of power. These essentially consist of three categories.

A. Visible power​Visible forms of power are at the same time easy to spot and easily definable. They form the formal rules, structures, authorities, institutions, and procedures of decision making.​Examples include elections, political parties, laws, legislatures, budgets, corporate policy, and by-laws. Within school settings, it is the headmaster, the curriculum or even school policies.

​Look at the photograph to the right hand side and answer the questions below:

Why are the desks set up the way they are?

Who has the most power in this photo? How do you know?

What sort of interactions does this layout encourage?

(How) does this differ from the way your classroom is set up?

Now look at this second photograph:

How does this photograph differ from the one before?

Who has the most power in the room? How can you tell?

What sort of interactions does this layout encourage?

How much interaction will there be in comparison to the previous picture? ​What effect will that have on the students and on their learning?

Finally, based on what you have just seen above, reflect on these questions:

Does it matter who holds the most power in the classroom? Which scenery would be more suitable for a reducing the power distinction between the teacher and the pupils?

Within the classroom, there is obviously an imbalance of power. An imbalance itself is not necessary a bad thing; teachers know what students need to be learning and when in order to pass exams, and they are knowledgeable in their subject area. In the second picture, it is clear that the teacher still has the most power as she is deciding who gets to speak, when. However, students in this photo are more likely to ask questions and talk to each other as well as the teacher, empowering them to take more control of their learning. ​

​B. Hidden power​Hidden forms of power are when certain people or groups keep power by making sure others can’t participate in rule-making and decision-taking. For example, powerful people could decide to have meetings at times when certain groups have trouble attending.

Other instances include: corporate organizations excluding wheelchair users from buildings by not putting in a ramp, governments excluding foreigners by not offering a translation service, or schools excluding girls by not having proper sanitation facilities for when they start to menstruate. It is worth noting that in these examples, the marginalized groups are sometimes granted access, but practically speaking cannot take advantage of that access.​

This video features the testimony of a wheelchair user explaining how difficult it can be for disabled people to get on a plane. Airlines indeed represent one category of companies which should take more into account the needs of wheelchair users, as they cannot benefit from their services as much as other clients. Since taking the plane is a key activity for any active person (such as go visit a client abroad), wheelchair users can therefore also be negatively affected in terms of economic productivity.

C. Invisible powerIn contrast to hidden power, which assumes that people are aware of the forces empowering some and disempowering others, invisible power form the ways in which less powerful groups accept and internalize dominant ideologies that obscure their own interests. This means that they are not aware that they are being disempowered, and accept things as they are. Marginalized groups are socialized to accept their condition amid the powerful’s control of information.In this form of power, people may be unaware of their rights, their ability to speak out, and may come to see domination over them as ‘natural’, and therefore unchangeable and unquestionable. Poor people, for instance, may, internalize dominant explanations of poverty that tell them poverty is ‘their fault’ rather than a systemic problem. Most relevant for our case: young people (students) may believe that to be able to change their situation, they have to rely on older people, or to wait until they are older themselves to act.

​While these three concepts are presented separately, in practice they are highly interrelated. Victories by dominant groups in public arenas (visible power) shape the barriers which may keep people from engaging (hidden power). Over time, the lack of visible conflict or contestation contributes to an acceptance of the status quo as normal (invisible power). A historic example is represented by the emergence of racist laws implemented by the White minority of South Africa after World War I - leading the Black, mixed-race and South Asian communities worse off for the century to come.

Power and EmpowermentWe have discussed the fact that having power means that you can exert an amount of influence over people, resources, or a situation, to bend it to your will. Now it is time to think about the word empowerment. Spend about 15 minutes thinking about the questions below.

Brainstorm on the word empowerment. What does an empowered person look like? And a disempowered one?

What do you believe is the link between power and empowerment?

Why empower? Who needs to be empowered?

Empowerment helps someone or a group of people to take or develop power for themselves. Empowerment targets those who are marginalised; empowerment is not needed for those who already have a lot of power. Empowerment is about ensuring that all voices are heard so that all needs are met. ​

Case Study - Patrick Krebs: Empowering theatre

Before moving on to the next module, try to think of ways of teaching that could empower your students. Think outside the box and imagine teaching methods that could grant your most vulnerable students the power to express themselves.​Have you ever thought of theatre?

To help you brainstorm these ideas, we would like to show you the following video introducing the activity of Patrick Krebs, a stage director from Slovakia who gives free theatre classes to homeless and disabled people. How can this example inspire you in your everyday teaching activities? Click on the image on the right to watch the video...

Creative Thinking Exercise

Now that you familiarized with the concept and scopes of power and how it leads to Empowerment, think about a few practical issues that are related to your activities as a teacher in Malta. You can also discuss them among colleagues.

1. How would you convince a colleague who didn’t attend this course to implement measures towards further children empowerment in Malta?

2. What do you think your role as a teacher is in discussing historic examples of invisible forms of power to your pupils? How relevant do you think this could be to address current global challenges?

3. How would you go about explaining the difference between different sources of power to your students? What examples could you make?

Summary ​In this module, we have looked at various ways of looking at power, especially as related to the classroom. We have considered visible, hidden, and invisible forms of power and begun to link the term power to empowerment. ​In the next module, we will consider empowerment in and through education. We will learn about Paolo Freire and his ideas about the power of education to empower or disempower students, and we connect his ideas coming out of adult education in Brazil to formal schooling in Malta. ​

Additional Reading

This module only scratched the surface of the information regarding the association between Power - Empowerment. To learn more, here are some recommended links:

- HANDLER, Joel F., “Power and Empowerment” (Chapter), Down from Bureaucracy: The Ambiguity of Privatization and Empowerment, Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 115-132.